


Grown

by icehuggy



Category: Stranger Things - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, hellppp, no lemon, stranger things, watching theory videos rn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-08 15:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7763152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icehuggy/pseuds/icehuggy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2 years later...</p><p>December of 1985, and Mike Wheeler continues searching for Eleven. He's already in high school, and this Christmas break he knows he will finally find the strange girl with supernatural powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grown

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've spent, like, a few days on this. I have some planning done, a few ideas, but mostly I'm making it up as I go along. I would love some criticism, and please tell me if I make a mistake or need to fix spelling, punctuation, anything. Kudos are greatly appreciated, and comments are awesome. I'll try to reply to all comments if I can, and update about five times a week at the very least. I've updated about four times today, but when school starts, that probably won't be happening.
> 
> Other important thing: if you know the official release date for Season 2 of Stranger Things, please tell me. I have to get this done before Season 2 is released, so lemme know if you know when it comes out or if it does at all. Thanks!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support!  
> I've been trying to work on this, but I haven't had much time. Pls forgive.

December 20th, 1985

\- Mike Wheeler's POV -

 

"Elle?" I yell, and my voice is scratchy. It's quiet. Snowflakes fall gently and quietly around me. The forest is covered in snow, and I can barely see. I slap at the flakes of snow angrily and growl as I fall to my knees, punching through the two inches of snow and down to the ground. I can't stand her being gone, I've forgotten her voice. I sigh and sit up, breathe out, stand up, breathe in, and begin walking back to my bike. I crunch through the snow and follow my tracks. I find my bike and begin riding it home. I go up a hill and down the street. Reaching my house, I park my bike in the garage and walk inside the house.  
"Hey, Mike." Nancy says. She's sitting with Steve on the couch. I yawn.  
"Hey, Nancy." I walk downstairs and look over at Eleven's old bed. Haven't moved anything since she left, except for what Hawkins Lab took. They've been closed to us since, of course, but nobody goes to the Lab anymore. There's no reason. Not to remember, be reminded, we don't want that. The thoughts of the Demogorgon and the Not me, not Dustin or Will or anyone. Lucas... Since the fight, and since Eleven, he's just been kind of separated from us. He moved. We don't keep in touch. He lives in Montauk, NY now. He and his parents moved a few months after Will came back because they were afraid of what could happen to Lucas. Ridiculous. And Will... He's so sick. He's in the hospital right now and has been for a few months now. Whatever The Upside Down did to him, well, it was bad. His veins show through his grey skin. He's got this throaty cough, and he coughs up this gunk. We don't say it, but we know it's from the Upside Down. He must have inhaled something, and we don't know if he's gonna get better. I shake away the terrible thoughts and crawl into Eleven's tiny bed fort with a sigh. I curled into a small ball and close my eyes, remembering back when things were normal. Normal... Well, that was never an option, with Elle. That time she made me fly after I jumped, and the time she flipped that van over on the last day I saw her... November 24th. 1983. Elle, how I miss you. If you were alive now, you'd have hair, wouldn't you? Your dress would be so tattered... You would have found new clothes. You'd be taller. You'd be so different, maybe I wouldn't recognize you. I wouldn't recognize you... But I will never forget you.

December 21st, 1985

\- Nancy Wheeler's POV -

I'm not sure where to start.  
Will was gone... And my brother began acting strange, of course. His friend was dead, after all. But really, it was just that girl Eleven. She seems odd. She rarely ever spoke, from what I've heard, and her head was shaved. She had powers, telepathy and things like that. She could kill and save people. How? Well, I've been told she was a test subject at Hawkins Lab. Like a rat. Those people treated her like dirt, I guess. Those who worked at Hawkins and weren't killed by the faceless monster - Mike calls it a Demogorgon from his game, I will too - were imprisoned. Thank God. The Lab hasn't been completely closed to the public, even if it should. Hopper says that we shouldn't go inside just in case the Demogorgon is still there; or if anything else is. We never knew what happened to Barb. She was my best friend. I miss her. Eleven said she was gone, but I can't believe that. If you were told your best friend was gone with no proof, it would be hard to swallow, wouldn't it? Of course it would. People don't just disappear. They don't, not in a small town like this. I bet you that Eleven will find Mike, he's been looking for her. If Will came back- "Nanc?" Steve says, brushing a strand of hair out of my face with a smile. "Is everything okay?" He asks. I just nod and smile back softly. "Yeah. It's fine." I kiss his cheek and lean against him softly. He wraps an arm around me and we sit like that for a while. Steve has changed. He's polite, and he doesn't hang out with the people he used to be friends with. The man who worked at the movie theater told me he helped wash off the rude spray paint, Nancy is a slut, off the sign. We went on a date and saw Back To The Future there, and that's when the owner told me. He - Steve - is a better person, and not to be egomaniacal, but it could be because of me. I'm glad. I'm proud of him. I love him, I think. I can't fake the things I say and think, not all of them. Can I? I love him. Not Johnathan - I'm friends with him, sure. People say things, of course, but I love Steve. We both know it. 

\- Dustin Henderson's POV -

I still have a damn lisp. My teeth are fixed, but something in my mouth is still messed up. Tongue placement or whatever. It doesn't stop me from talking. I walk into Will's hospital room. Even sick, he's adorable. He smiles weakly. I wave a Bruce Springsteen CD at him. "Born In The USA." I grin and open the case. The stereo is open, and I take out a The Clash CD. I put it back in it's own case and slide in the CD I brought him. The first song starts playing and he smiles. I love making him happy. I sit in a chair at the end of his bed and kick my legs back and forth. Will closes his eyes, and I feel tears rise in my eyes. What if Will died? I would never recover, neither would Joyce. Johnathan, and Hopper. Mike. Even Lucas. The whole town, everyone would be devastated. But nobody cares about him the way I do. No one ever will. Not everyone knows about my queerness. Nobody knows that I am hopelessly in love with Will. Mike knows, and he's okay with it. I never told Lucas. Oh, and Nancy knows. She said she "was glad I could understand who I was and it changes nothing." I've become good friends with her. She's kind. Steve... He's okay. I would never tell him that I'm gay. Homosexual. That's me, Dustin Henderson. A gay fourteen-almost-fifteen year old who's first love may die. Will coughs and I snap out of my trance. I grab a metal trashcan and put it next to him. He coughs into it, and slime and black flecks cover the inside of the can quickly. He coughs one more time and leans his head back against the hospital issue pillow. I take the trashcan and walk out of the room. I close the lid and lock the can - it was specially made - and then bring it down to the hospital lab. A man in a white jacket with slicked back black hair and a clipboard takes it. He smiles, and I read his name tag. "Thank you, Dusty." He says. "Yeah. Thanks, Max." I reply, and I walk back to Will's room. A black lady in her 20s or so stops me in front of the door. "Visiting hours are over, young man." She says. "Can't I at least say goodbye?" I ask desperately. She shakes her head. "I'm sorry, sir, he has meds to take and he's very sick." She says with a frown. I just nod and turn around. Fuck, I think myself as I walk out the glass double doors. I should start watching the time. Now, Will might hate me. Even worse, he could die tonight and I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't have said a proper goodbye. I wouldn't... I would never get the chance to tell him how much I love him. /p> \- Chief Hopper's POV - "Do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?" The priest asked "I do." I replied. My hands were awfully sweaty. He repeated the sentence, replaced "wife" with "husband", and Joyce said the two words I was waiting for. I do. After that, we kissed, and we were married. That was a year ago. Right now, her hair is messy and her eyes have dark bags beneath them. Her two hands grip a mug of coffee tightly, and her fingers barely poke out of the brown sweater she's wearing. Will is sicks. We both know he probably won't make it. Yes, we also got sick. And we did get better, but we were not exposed to the air in the Upside Down as long as Will was. Poor kid. We visited him today, but we couldn't stay long because he wasn't conscious and the doctors had to do some testing. Here we are, now. I used to think it wasn't fair. Joyce lost her son, I lost my daughter. Then she got her son back, but I will never see my Sarah again. But now Will is sick. And I feel like a dick for thinking that. "Jim?" She croaks, and she looks up from her coffee. "Hm?" I grunt in response. "Will he be okay?" There's plea in her eyes, so I just nod. She coughs and stands up, pushing her coffee towards me. She pushes in her chair and walks down the hall towards her room. I sigh. I'd promised her not to drink, and pop pills, or anything like that I used to do, and to be honest, it's been hard. But I'd do anything for her.

\- Eleven's POV -  
Dark.

 

Hidden.

-Mike Wheeler's POV-  
"Dustin?" I say into the walkie talkie. "Do you copy? Over."  
White noise is my only response.  
"Dustin!" I say louder this time, frowning. I hear a small click.  
"Mike?" Dustin says in response. I grin.  
"Meet me at the trail into the woods. Ten minutes." I shove my walkie into my bag and zip it out before sliding out of my window and dropping to the ground. I creep towards the garage and open the door. I grab my bike and roll it out, pushing the kickstand up and shutting the door behind me. I hop onto it and start pedaling. I arrive in a couple minutes at the trail and jump off my bike. It falls over, and Dustin, of course, isn't there. I groan and sit in front of the sign when I see a light going down the street, towards me. He pedals into the park and drops his bike. "Hey." I say. "What do you want! It's, like, eleven." Dustin says as he crosses his arms. I just smile and pull out my flashlight. "Let's go. We're gonna find her." I say, and I flick on the light before hesding down the trail. Dustin quickly follows. "What? She's been missing for years! You should have forgotten her by now." He says with a frown and concern in his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry for not forgetting someone who I care very much about." I snort in response, flashing my flashlight in his eyes before turning back around and heading down the trail. Small posts with lights installed inside of them marked the trails, and they were bright enough that we could turn off our flashlights. "Mike!" Dustin whispered loudly, pointing ahead. "Huh?" I reply, looking at where he pointed. "The light." He whispered. "Yeah, there are lights." I said, staring at the one he pointed out. It flickered - on, off, on. It flickered three times total. "See?" Dustin said excitedly. "She probably knew we were talking about her." He said matter-of-factly. "Yeah, I see." I whispered back, and the ones in front of it flickered. On and off twelve times, like the last one. I looked over at Dustin. "Let's try what Joyce did." I say, and he nods. "Eleven! Blink once for yes, two for no. Are you here?" I called, looking around at the lights. Each light flickered out, and we were engulfed in darkness. They flicked back on, and stayed that way. Dustin laughed and pumped his fist. I smiled. "Hey, El! Are you in the upside down?" He called out, and I watched the lights. Off, on. Off, on. We frowned and looked at each other. "Can you get out of there?" I called out nervously. Off, on. Off, on. I sighed. "Can we help?" I asked. Three flickers. She probably didn't know, then. I tapped my foot impatiently. 

**Author's Note:**

> I am so, so, so sorry for not working on this.
> 
> I recently have been pouring all my extra writing time into my Gotham fic, so...
> 
> I'm also really sick.


End file.
